Soon, driving licences to act as organ donor cards

Times of India
24 Aug 2012In Case Of Death, There Will Be No Delay In Retrieving Organs

In a ground–breaking move that hopes to lift the state’s dismal cadaver donation count–which stands at less than 300 organs in the past 15 years–the state government will soon make it mandatory for a driving licence–holder to mention his or her consent to organ transplantation in the licence itself. This is to ensure that in the event of a person’s death in an accident, there is no delay in retrieving organs for transplant as well as to forestall opposition from relatives, if any. This was one among several major decisions taken at an advisory committee meeting held on Wednesday on the Transplantation of Human Organs Act. Officials said the decisions are in consonance with the Central government Act. "All that the state government needs to do is issue a government resolution allowing it. TheGRwillbeissuedwithin a month," a senior Mantralaya official told TOI. In a long todo list to facilitate human organ transplantation in the state, particularly cadaver donations, the public health department will also discuss with the home department ways in which a postmortem and organ retrieval can be done atthesametime,sources said. "The government will designate a non–transplantation hospital with an intensive care unit and an operation theatre as an organ retrieval centre to increase the number of retrieval centres. The condition of a minimum of 25 beds applicable in Tamil Nadu will not be applied here." In an effort to ensure better coordination and dissemination of information, a transplant hospital will have to inform all other registered transplant hospitals about a braindead person and provide organs on the basisof thewaiting list.The government will not only revive the Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre at Pune, but also set up new ones at Amravati and Nashik. It will work on providing wide publicity to the issue and publicize the good results. Besides additional chief secretary (public health) T C Benjamin, the committee comprises the director of Directorate Medical Education and Research, secretary of medical education, Hinduja Hospital medical director Gustad Daver, former medical education secretary Aziz Khan and former dean of Sion Hospital Dr Armita Fernandes, among others.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS ON TRANSPLANTS

Kidney donations fall under three categories under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act:
Cadaveric, live related and live unrelated donations Live include the closest family – a patient’s mother, father, siblings and spouse
Unrelated include the extended family, including uncles, aunts, grandparents and friends
Cadaveric donations are coordinated in Mumbai by the Zonal Transplantation Coordination Centre that uses a computer–based points programme to decide who will get a kidney, liver, lung or heart
Live–related donors are cleared at the hospital level, if from the state
Unrelated donors from outside the state face problems with paperwork, which delays transplant
Unrelated donors must have an interview with the authorization committee to establish that the donor isn’t being coerced to donate

WHY DRIVING LICENCE AS DONOR CARD?
This would ensure that in the event of a person’s death in an accident, there is no delay in retrieving organs for transplantation as well as to forestall opposition from relatives

Times View

Organ domain transplants , where the are a sticky government and doctors have to deal with difficult ethical issues that have no black–and–white solutions or answers. The government is bound by law and ethics to prevent forced donations. But things could become a little simpler if every party in a transplant, including the government and potential donors and recipients, starts with afundamental premise: No emergency patient should be denied a transplant for delay in paperwork. There needs to be a fine balance between the two necessities, preventing forced donations and saving lives by effecting speedy transplants.

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